Tag:route=railway
 route =
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| Description |
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The route of a railway (e.g. the Channel Tunnel). Not to be confused with the route of a passenger train service (see route=train). 
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| Group: railways |
| Used on these elements |
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| Status: in use |
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This tag is used on relations which map the route of a railway line. These relations gather rail infrastructure (track) elements (usually railway=rail), often with the same name=*, usage=* and owner=* / operator=* tags.
Passenger train services which run on the railway=rail line (and connecting lines) are tagged separately using one or more route=train relations. Other (non-railway=rail) passenger rail services are denoted with route=tram, route=light_rail, route=monorail or route=subway relations.
See Railways and Train routes.
Note: do not use a railway=rail tag on this relation as this will confuse renderers.
Tagging
The ways (usually railway=rail, though less often railway=disused, railway=abandoned or railway=razed) are collected in a relation with the following tags:
| Key | Value | Comment | Example (134946 134946)
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|---|---|---|---|
type |
route |
(mandatory) | type=route
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route |
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(mandatory) | route=
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ref |
number | (usually mandatory, though left empty when unknown) | ref=801
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name |
track name | Name of the track (mandatory) | name=KBS 801 Schlüchtern - Gemünden
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operator |
company name | Operator of the track | |
from |
station name | Originating station (recommended) | from=Schlüchtern
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via |
station name | Important intermediate stations | |
to |
station name | Destination station (recommended) | to=Gemünden
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On multi-track sections, you may add the side of the track by using left, right, A etc. member roles on the ways.[1]
Country specific
Germany
In Germany route= is used to refer to timetabled route numbers (three digit, Kursbuchstrecke referring to a route of passenger services), while route=tracks is used for VzG line numbers (four digit, unambiguous identification of a railway line).
United States
In the United States and most countries, only route= relations are used, there is no need for route=tracks relations. A convention with US route= relations is a strong intention to harmonize them by gathering elements with identical name=*, usage=*, railway=*, owner=* and operator=* tags. In the US, a route= could have any sort of traffic upon it and has nothing to do with specifically passenger rail service or passenger rail routes (that's all denoted in route=train relations). Contrast this with Germany, where all route=s "already mean" a particular passenger service, denoted by three digits in the ref=* tag.
Possible tagging mistakes
See also
route=tracks- Railroad track as rail infrastructure, used primarily in Germany. Not to be confused withroute=train.
References
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